New book tells story of Apollo spacesuit created by the lingerie company now known as Playtex

View full sizeNeil Armstrong, right, leads the Apollo 11 astronauts as they head for the spacecraft and history. (NASA photo)

"When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the lunar surface in
July of 1969, they wore spacesuits made by Playtex: twenty-one layers of
fabric, each with a distinct yet interrelated function, custom-sewn for
them by seamstresses whose usual work was fashioning bras and girdles," says Amazon.com's opening teaser for a new book being released this month. The book, "Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo" by Nicholas de Monchaux, tells how Playtex used James Bond-like derring-do to win the contract over the military-industrial complex that couldn't get the job done.

NASA's engineers favored a hard bodysuit, the story goes, but it couldn't be built to work. One test model's helmet exploded, another wouldn't fit into the capsule. But Playtext had an inside track, so to speak. As Wired magazine noted, "Any company capable of making a girdle tough enough to sustain that
1960s hourglass shape without cutting off the wearer's oxygen can handle
the rigors of space."